The government on Wednesday fielded a Brahmin and a Dalit MP from poll-bound Uttar Pradesh to move the motion of thanks to the President’s address in the Lok Sabha, a platform that was used by both to claim big achievements by the Yogi Adityanath government under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The selection of the MPs to open the discussion reflected the BJP’s intention to reach out to the voters of the largest state.

The Brahmins and the Dalits, representing the top and bottom layers of the society, are said to have been ruffled by the brash rule of chief minister Yogi Adityanath, an upper caste Thakur. The BJP has been desperately trying to woo the two sections along with the OBCs before the votes are cast.

Harish Dwivedi, an MP from Basti in East Uttar Pradesh, opened the discussion and referred to the construction of the Ram temple, refurbishment of the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi and abrogation of Article 370 in his speech. Besides heaping praise on Modi, the MP repeatedly referred to Yogi, claiming that all-round development had been unleashed in Uttar Pradesh under Modi’s leadership.

“The Yogi government has given 4.5 lakh government jobs. Expressways, roads and airports have been built,” Dwivedi said, claiming that the BJP will return to power in the state with a thumping majority.

Kamlesh Paswan, the second speaker from the treasury benches, hailed Yogi for ending “gunda-raaj”, indirectly lauding the state government for encounter killings.

“Uttar Pradesh was known for gunda-raaj. Today, criminals are either behind the bars or have been sent up,” he said in Hindi.

Kamlesh Paswan in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. PTI

He referred to Gorakhpur, the pocket borough of Yogi, as the most criminal-infested area in Asia and said now there was peace and rule of law had been established in the district.

The BJP has made law and order one of their principal poll planks in Uttar Pradesh and the ruling side appeared to use the discussion in the Lok Sabha to push it.

This effort by the BJP received a strong counter from Trinamul’s Sougata Roy who referred to the Hathras rape and murder of a Dalit girl and the Unnao rape case to attack the Yogi government’s claim of having established the rule of law in the state.

Sougata also slammed the government for extinguishing the Amar Jawan Jyoti and rejecting Bengal’s tableau on Netaji. He attacked the Bengal governor for “tweeting everything” and targeted the President’s address to Parliament on the first day of the budget session for remaining silent on key issues such as price rise.